Voices in .ogg?

[Distiler]

Hi!

 

Just wanted to know if there is any problem in putting .ogg files for voices instead of wav as I see many missions using the last one but the editor accepts both wav or ogg sound files.

 

For offline mission is not a big deal, but for online it's another history. I transformed a 14MB mission (Flexible defense) into 2MB (update: 1MB) by just converting the format and altering mission file to reflect the changes without apparent quality change in sound. Or mission Retrograde from 1.2MB to 800KB (update: 460KB), not a lot but still nice.

 

So is there any bug or problem affecting .ogg files during gameplay?

Edited March 6, 2009 by Distiler

[LazerPotatoe]

.ogg is compressed, so you may see a bit of performance loss, as the game would have to decompress when it plays. But it is probably not a significant amount.

[MBot]

Actualy you can still use wav files and have low file sizes. For my last mission Suppression Fire I have been trying to get the file size down as much as possible. The key was to render the files out of my audio program using a different codec.

[Distiler]

So like making a mp3 (lower cpu requirement than ogg and still good compression) and "encapsulating" it as a wav?

[MBot]

No, actually I could select in Audacity different codex' to export a sound as a wav file. If I remember correctly, they would generate files in different bitrates, with lower obviously meaning smaller file sizes.

[Distiler]

Ok I'll check it.

 

BTW I re-coded those wav to 1 sound channel as they were originally and I cut in half the prior attempt (I encoded those .ogg with 2 channel as I thought .wav were stereo). So now Retrograde now is just 460KB for example.

 

Supressión fire went down from 2.7MB to 1MB, and I can't really tell if there is any difference in sound quality (and now I'm not even in the chopper XD). Want me to mail those files and check it? settings are 22Khz, 1 channel (mono) 32kbps (as suggested by the encoder). BTW I'm using SUPER freeware encoder/decoder.

 

PD: I've checked cpu consumtion and I can't see it going further than 1% but as those files are so tiny it might spike a little more and the monitor may not got it because slow refresh. In any way I think it's negligible (my cpu is an intel 2 core E5200).

Edited March 6, 2009 by Distiler

[TX-Kingsnake]

Going from 1.2MB to 800KB is hardly worth the effort. The result would be less than a second for the client to download the mission from the host. Ogg files must be decompressed so you get each client doing that and it has the potential to cause stutter or frame rate drop. Wav files are not compressed. When you load the mission the wav files are ready to play. That is a factor for multiplayer missions. For single player missions the ogg format is smaller and might be a better option.

[Distiler]

Wait wait, 1.2MB -> 460KB for Retrograde, 3.4MB -> 780KB for overwatch and 14MB -> 1MB for Flexible defense using 22Khz, mono (original values). In the opening post I've used 2 channels (didn't realized original files where 1 channel).

 

Worth a look I think, specially for those servers with limited bandwidth (maybe not for those with big pipelines). As I've said I can't see any stutter, I might be wrong, but I'll test and post results.

Edited March 6, 2009 by Distiler

[TX-Kingsnake]

DSL download is 1.0 - 1.5Mbps. Cable can give you 2 - 3Mbps. For downloading, cable can give you almost twice the speed of DSL. On the upload side, cable and DSL are pretty evenly matched. They both provide about 100Kbps - 400Kbps. But you have to go with what you got.

 

I am making large missions RETROGRADE, OVERWATCH, AREA DEFENSE. These are intended to last around 2 hours for 8 players on a server with a good connection. For those with limited bandwidth these missions are going to require a longer wait time, and that is the trade-off. Smaller missions like convoy hunts around 30 minutes long or Spetsnaz pinpoint strikes without custom audio would be better suited for limited bandwidth. Someone could take that approach to mission building and I gather it would be well received by those with limited bandwidth. Where I am focused the difference between 1 and 3 megs is a matter of seconds and considering the missions are over 2 hours, a few seconds isn't painful.

[sobek]

I am making large missions RETROGRADE, OVERWATCH, AREA DEFENSE. These are intended to last around 2 hours for 8 players on a server with a good connection. For those with limited bandwidth these missions are going to require a longer wait time, and that is the trade-off. Smaller missions like convoy hunts around 30 minutes long or Spetsnaz pinpoint strikes without custom audio would be better suited for limited bandwidth. Someone could take that approach to mission building and I gather it would be well received by those with limited bandwidth. Where I am focused the difference between 1 and 3 megs is a matter of seconds and considering the missions are over 2 hours, a few seconds isn't painful.

 

That is a good point. I'd like to add that in your case, all the audio is supposed to be transmitted by the radio i guess, and analogue radios have sh***y audio quality anyway, so i would recommend to encode the files with relatively low bit rates and even a high cut, if possible, to conserve space. As long as the speech is recognisable, it get's the job done.

[TX-Kingsnake]

I'm going to give it a try in ogg. It is one of the few cases where you would want poor quality audio.